DigiMont - digital assembly - first step in lot size 1

Project Duration:

Sunday, January 12, 2014 to Friday, November 30, 2018

In order to achieve high rates of adding value in the future and thus to secure locations and jobs in Upper Austria, productivity and agility must be steadily increased, the transparency and traceability of all processes must be continuously improved, and costs must be reduced. Only with this strategy it is possible for local companies to adapt to the increasing market volatility and withstand the ever increasing competition. The introduction of highly intelligent products, tools and assistance systems, which allow production in "lot size 1" of a high product variety, as well as the efficient planning, management and optimization of all processes compose the basic requirement for achieving these overall objectives. The project DigiMont aims at all these aspects. The focus is placed on the assembly line of BRP Powertrain GmbH & Co KG:

· One objective is to ensure the productivity, transparency and traceability of products and processes through intelligent control systems that allow the communication in real time and whereby the data is collected. This requires the creation of interfaces to existing systems as well as the use of Big Data technologies. Thereby the amount of data can be collected, analyzed and interpreted.

· Another objective is the agile design of affected processes of a production in "lot size 1" to allow responding to changes anytime. The processes need to be modeled in a virtual production scheme, where the processes can be simulated and then visualized. In addition, the production in "lot size 1" increases the demands on the planning (sequence, cycle time, etc.). As solution method, simulation and optimization approaches are methodically used and combined.

· The third goal is the creation of cross-linked assistance systems, which provide user-accessible information of the relating job step to the end-user in real time. The methodological approach consists of the analysis of existing literature and technical studies and a (qualitative) assessment of possible methods and technologies (using different categories such as techn. suitability, impacts on the health of employees, costs, etc.). Through the gained knowledge, appropriate methods can be identified, which are configured in their connection and tested in a real environment for their practicality.

Concepts and solutions for a digital assembly line with cross-linked systems, intelligent products / tools, and assistance systems as well as the simulation, optimization and visualization of all processes to guarantee a production in “lot size 1” are seen as a result of the project DigiMont. The project contributes to greater transparency, agility and cost optimality at the production and ensures the links between science and business. Thus, the mutual knowledge exchange is promoted, which provides an excellent basis for further joint projects and thus contributes to the implementation of the strategy of Upper Austria in 2020.